Jeepers Creepers II
2 out of 5 stars
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Writer-director Salva is back with a sequel to his 2001 hit thriller, and this time he has a slightly more-developed plot ... but he hasn't learned anything as a filmmaker. It's virtually the next day, and the bat-like Creeper (Breck) is still feeding on anyone he can find. Unluckily, a school bus full of basketball players and cheerleaders gets stuck on the highway in the middle of Creeper country. Soon these teens are fighting amongst themselves and running for their lives, as they're picked off one by one. Then a resourceful farmer (Wise) arrives to get revenge--his son was killed in the opening scene. Things get very gruesome indeed.

There were two serious problems with the first film: It had a wafer thin plot that felt made up as it went along, and it got sillier the more we saw the Creeper. Well, Salva starts where he left off, with the Creeper on screen in all his ludicrous glory, although Salva obviously thinks he's really terrifying (he isn't!). Where this film succeeds is in the interplay between the teens, trapped in the bus and playing a brutal game of Lifeboat to decide who lives and who dies. Everything else in the film is silly and underdeveloped. Where the first film had a convenient clairvoyant show up to explain what was happening, this one gives one of the cheerleaders (Aycox) a gift of second sight so she can relay all the illogical facts from the original film's Darry (Long). It wouldn't seem so lame if Salva had his tongue in his cheek. Despite some nicely humorous touches, he clearly takes this hideously seriously and thinks he's scaring the liver out of us. But he's not. There are a few jolts but nothing scary. We're laughing at him, not with him. Hopefully he'll figure this out before he starts working on Part 3. I can hear him now: "I always envisioned this as a trilogy!"

cert 15 themes, language, violence 12.Jun.03

dir-scr Victor Salva
with Ray Wise, Jonathan Breck, Nicki Aycox, Eric Nenninger, Garikayi GK Mutambirwa, Kasan Butcher, Josh Hammond, Al Santos, Travis Schiffner, Diane Delano, Luke Edwards, Justin Long
release US/UK 29.Aug.03
United Artists
03/US 1h44

I see dead people: Long and Aycox.

Also:
jeepers creepers
JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)
R E A D E R   R E V I E W S
send your review to Shadows... jeepers creepers ii Fudge, Bilston: 5/5 "while predictable, this is still one of the most enjoyable horror films that has been produced in a long time. i've been watching horror films since the days of House by the Cemetary and Poltergeist and the Creeper is by far the coolest killer yet." (5.Mar.04)
© 2003 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

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